Efforts to stem the steady rise in drug overdoses in Los Angeles County are failing, often due to poor coordination between county agencies and clinics that are unwelcoming to at-risk communities, according to nonprofit groups and county sources.
Despite its existing county programs, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors say the problem needs a fresh look, or overdose deaths from methamphetamine and the synthetic opioid called fentanyl — or a deadly combination of the two — will continue to drive up accidental drug overdoses.
Hence, the board will consider a motion by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis at its meeting on Tuesday to ask the numerous county agencies that share a piece of the drug abuse prevention puzzle to put their heads together and come back with a new, cohesive plan in four months or less.
“The United States, including Los Angeles County, is experiencing the worst drug overdose crisis in national and local history,” concluded the two supervisors in their proposed action.
Since 2011, L.A. County has seen increases in accidental drug overdoses. In 2020, the county reported 2,425 overdose deaths, their motion stated.
The 11-year rise is mostly affecting marginalized communities, including those who are unhoused and those in the criminal justice system. The rise in accidental overdoses is also seen in African American, Latino and LGBTQ+ residents of L.A. County.
“Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death among people experiencing homelessness, and African Americans are the racial group with the highest rate of accidental drug overdose death” in Los Angeles County, the motion reported.
The supervisors want to increase efforts that are spread among a myriad of county agencies, including departments of public health, education, children and family services, mental health, the coroner’s office, and the Los Angles County Homeless Services Authority.
“This fight won’t be easy, but we owe it to those we serve by making sure our efforts here are coordinated and informed by those in the community who are most impacted,” wrote Solis in an emailed response.
One of the biggest challenges is reaching those who have a drug abuse problem but don’t want treatment, the motion stated.
The motion gives credit to ideas put forward by an advocacy group, Act Now Against Meth Coalition, which has been working for two years in grassroots campaigns to learn what works — and what doesn’t.
“We need to increase treatment efforts around crystal meth use in our community,” said Richard Zaldivar, executive director of The Wall Las Memorias, part of the coalition working on solutions to drug abuse in the county.
Zaldivar said the county needs to bring the hard truth about opioids into unreached communities. “Many think they are using crystal meth, but it is really meth with fentanyl,” he said on Friday.
He agreed with expanding county programs that give out fentanyl test strips that help identify the powerful and often fatal opioid hidden in unregulated drugs. Also, he agrees that programs administering naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, can be helpful.
Often, the county’s approach to preventing drug abuse does not reach across different groups and is “siloed” within one service agency, he said. And some people feel unwelcome.
The group’s research found many in the LGBTQ+ community complained that county treatment facilities were not “safe spaces” for queer patients and said they felt staffers were homophobic.
Also, Zaldivar would like to see the county’s Department of Mental Health not just treat someone’s substance abuse problem but consider the patient’s total mental health, getting to the reason someone uses illicit drugs.
Often, those abusing drugs have low self-esteem. Men having sex with men can feel shame or isolation, or are unemployed and use crystal meth as a way to augment the sexual experience, he said.
“We want to get them to a place where they are empowered to be happy and accepting of who they are, to feel better about themselves,” he said.
The supervisors’ motion seeks federal and state funding for mental health programs and for additional training for substance abuse disorder counselors.